Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Here are a few of the top stories on mountain lions from recent news articles. For more frequent updates, visit MountainLion.org and read the news daily.

Meet the Newest Mountain Lion of the Santa Monica Mountains

On July 31st the National Park Service captured and radio collared one of the few lions still roaming the Santa Monica Mountains in southern California. Named P13 (the 13th Puma to be fitted with a GPS tracking collar since their study began in 2002), this female could be the daughter of P6, which would make her the granddaughter of the well known P1. In 2003, P1 was believed to be the only male lion in the mountain range and later killed P6's siblings and mother, likely due to their territorial nature and so little habitat available. Two lions were recently killed by vehicles while trying to cross the major freeways that surround the Santa Monica Mountains.

Cougar hunting limitations continue to decrease in Washington as the state prepares for this year's season which will kick off September 1st. The state will issue roughly 68 permits for hound hunts and no longer require ownership of any dogs used. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife still claims they are testing the "management benefits" of their pilot hound hunting program despite broad scientific research saying there are no safety benefits to hunting cougars. Another change will be an additional 290 permits without the use of dogs "to offer all hunters a fair opportunity to hunt cougar."

Arizona's Bighorn Sheep population has been dwindling in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge and some people are quick to blame mountain lions. Taking into consideration that a wildlife refuge should be a safe haven for all native wildlife, the US Fish & Wildlife Service halted the killing of lions while they completed a study on the Bighorn population. The ban has expired but the research is not finished, and may take as long as March 2010 to be published. Hunters are getting anxious. Conservationists want thorough research before any action is taken... such as factors like the Pasteurella bacteria which was studied by the University of Idaho and proved in some cases to kill nearly 75% of Bighorn populations, and can be transmitted from domestic sheep grazing adjacent to Kofa.

In September, North Dakota will open their nearly seven-month-long cougar hunting season. The North Dakota Game and Fish Department admits that only 2% of the state is suitable habitat for the species, which is still recolonizing the area due to being mostly cutoff from breeding populations of lions in other states (see their report). The season runs through March likely so that hunters have plenty of opportunities to track down this rare handful of lions... that only cost $8 to kill.

Those were just a few of the lion articles from the past week. Click here to read more! The Mountain Lion Foundation follows cougar and wildlife news each week. For a complete library of the most pertinent news articles, visit the Mountain Lion Foundation Newsroom.

If you can not use the links in this email to read complete articles, cut and paste (or type) the following address into your browser: